Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the villages of Mansouri and Majdal Zoun near Lebanon’s southern border on Feb. 21, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
An Israeli air strike on south Lebanon killed a woman and a girl on Wednesday, prompting Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement to retaliate with rocket fire.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that Khadija Salman was killed and her daughter seriously wounded in the "enemy" strike on the southern village of Majdal Zoun.
Requesting anonymity, a hospital source confirmed the woman had died and her daughter remained in serious condition, adding that a young girl was also killed.
Rescue workers said several other people were wounded and rushed to hospital.
In the evening, Hezbollah said it fired several rockets at the Matzuva kibbutz across the border in Israel "in response to Israeli attacks on villages and civilian homes" including Majdal Zoun.
The party also claimed responsibility for 11 other operations against Israeli military positions on the border.
The cross-border exchanges since October have killed at least 271 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 42 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that Israel would pay "with blood," after 10 civilians, including seven members of one family, were killed in Lebanon's largest single-day death toll so far. Five Hezbollah fighters were also killed.
An Israeli air strike on south Lebanon killed a woman and a girl on Wednesday, prompting Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement to retaliate with rocket fire.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.
Lebanon's...